Dragon Fires
by Jessica Pendragon
Summary: Assortment of SMMFC entries.
1. Closing Doors

The door clicked quietly, but it was a sound she would never, ever forget. It was the sound of something ending. He closed the door so many times, but he always returned after things had gotten too hard. Yet this time she knew it was different; he wouldn't be coming back. She watched from the corner as her mother's shoulders slumped once he was gone for good. The woman she always thought was beautiful, and always would, raised a hand to cover her mouth and put the other to her hip as she tried to compose herself. Her mother was always so strong.

"Momma...?" she called out, unsure.

Her mother turned around, looking terrified and surprised, as if she had forgotten someone else was in the house. "Oh, Ami..."

"What's wrong? Where did Daddy go?"

"Ami please, go back to playing. I need...uh, I need to go make dinner so be a good girl," her mother rambled, quickly wiping her eyes and disappeared into the next room.

She stood there for a moment, confused, before returning to her small, plastic play table. She sat back down, staring at the gift her father had given her this morning. He had presented her with a new packet of watercolors and paper to experiment with. She hadn't thought anything about the offering and thanked her unusually quiet father, not noticing anything was wrong or different.

Now she became infinitely sad, even though she couldn't completely understand why. She looked down at her half completely drawing, staring at the green trees, the quiet lake and churning waterfall. She loved the water. It reminded her of fun days at the pool with her father, calm nights when her mother would give her bubble baths and the cool summer nights when her family would stay up watching the rain falling down and counting the lightning strikes.

Together they taught her to not be afraid of it, to not be afraid of anything. Somehow she knew, things weren't going to be like that anymore.

Tears dripped from her eyes, mixing with the watercolor below. It distorted the images even more, and she wiped her hand across the paper angrily, smearing all the colors together. It was smudged and ruined, just how she felt inside. She couldn't remember anything else about that day, except the quiet sobs her mother tried to keep hidden as she cried herself to sleep that night.

She never touched the watercolors again, but kept them hidden beneath her bed. She found them one day after many years had come and gone, and found the distorted picture with them. She looked at it with a melancholy reverence before picking everything up and moving outside to the deck. There she recreated the same scene with a much steadier hand from years of learning and growing. She painted the green trees and the quiet lake, with the surging waterfall under the bright and perfect afternoon sun. Once finished she carefully cleaned up  
before replacing the watercolors beneath her bed.

With confident strides she made her way to the kitchen and pinned the new drawing upon the fridge and stood back with a smile. She admitted to herself, painting wasn't a field she much improved in, but it was perfect for her. Nothing had been the same after that day, but things had also changed for the quiet and afraid person she had become.

In her pocket her communicator started to beep. Usagi's face appeared on the screen, all smiles and happiness. "Are you coming Ami-chan?"

"Of course, I'll be over in a few," she responded.

Casting one last glance she turned to leave, crumpled up the original and tossed it into the trash. The door shut soundly behind her, but it was not the end of something this time; it was the beginning of something beautiful.


	2. Cycle of Life

As he watched her die, he thought of autumn.

She fought so bravely, twirling around him in a flourish that rivaled the most violent and brilliant of fall's storms. Her determined green eyes reminded him of the leaves refusing to give way to the coming cold, that cling to life with every fiber of their being. Her brown hair, tousled and loose, brings about memories of running through the barren woods, crushing the fallen orange leaves beneath his feet carelessly as the child he once was played and laughed. She is beautiful; tragic and breathtaking like the season itself. He watched as her eyes become cold and distant, like the man he became. In that moment he wondered if winter grieves as it murders the beauty of the world.

As she towers above him now in a totally different life, he realizes winter does not last forever. Autumn returns stronger and more beautiful as ever, reborn in the spring to melt the cold in winter's heart. She stands as strong as an ancient oak once more, the antennae atop her head sparkling with the ferver of a spring storm. Her green eyes are as determined as the grass that pokes through the suffocating snow. Brunette locks remind him of the sturdy mast of his ship, of standing next to it and feeling the spring winds carry his hopes and dreams.

As she kills him, he thinks of spring, and smiles.


	3. Her Favorite Color

Red was her favorite color.

One could hardly guess by the bright yellows and gold encasing her athletic frame now. Before-- before everything changed-- it had been the only thing she wore. Red described her; passionate, emotional, and loud, everything a princess of Venus should be. But the day came when red faded to gold, and she became who she was meant to be, not who she was. She could no longer wear whatever color she wished. Gold became her life; beautiful but cold, no more alive than the chain around her hips. She began to forget what it was to be red, to be full of happiness and sorrow; to be herself.

Then he came. He reminded her of who she was before, and was the only one to bring color to her pale cheeks. She began to forget the duties wrapped in gold, and let her heart shine once more. He understood what is was to chained by a color, by a duty not chosen. He was the only one she ever told about her passion for red, and one day he gave her a red silk bow to tie up the loose strands of her hair. At that moment red meant more to her than her favorite color. It was a symbol for everything that she once lost, and a beacon of hope for everything she wished to have.

She wore it every day from then on: The day they spent caressing under blackberry bushes, the day he told her he loved her beneath a waning moon, the day the sun gave birth to a new enemy, the day their affair broke the hearts of their friends, the day he turned against her. The day he killed her and he made her uniform run with red.

She wears it now, as she watches from afar as four young girls pretend to be superheroes, even though she doesn't know why. She simply understands it's as much a part of her as her arm and without it, she would never feel whole.


	4. Love Me Bad

Can evil love?

They call them the bad guys, tell them what they are doing is wrong. She's heard it from so many planets that maybe it's true.

But she doesn't feel so evil when he touches her, when he lays sweet kisses down her body. The tree shades them from any onlookers, but she cannot escape his intense eyes. His hands unzip her uniform, caressing her soft skin in places that make her blush. He kisses her as fingers explore, tease, excite. His kisses become stronger as his motions become more intense, driving her over some invisible edge. She cries out against his mouth, shaking like the leaves all around them. He cups her face and gazes into her eyes. For a moment, in his arms, good and evil don't exist. They are no different than anyone else, open and exposed and fragile unlike any evil should be. He tells her that there could be no one else, that they will be together forever.

And for a moment, she believes him.


	5. The Greatest Trick of All

_Every great magic trick consists of three acts. The first act is called "The Pledge"; The magician shows you something ordinary, but of course...it probably isn't._

We were ordinary...just five young girls making our way through our adolescence. We grew up in a bustling city of millions; just a few small voices that we thought no one would ever hear. But there was something different about us, no matter how hard we tried to fit in. Makoto was too strong willed and independent for girls her age. Ami was brilliant beyond recognition, an anomaly amongst her peers. Rei was mystical and beautiful -- and powerful-- and a complete mystery to everyone around her. Minako shone bright and fast, too vibrant for most to catch. Usagi was too kind and selfless to be real, and any normal human would look twice at her. But there was darkness in each of us...a hole in which an ordinary life just couldn't fill no matter how hard we wanted it.  
_  
The second act is called "The Turn"; The magician makes his ordinary some thing do something extraordinary. Now if you're looking for the secret...you won't find it..._

Then some thing happened to us. We became...extraordinary. Soon the entire world knew our names, and we decided its fate. We fought for love and justice, but we also fought to understand who we were. It was a game at first, but the reality of our decision, our destiny, pushed hard against us soon enough. By day we became one person, and by night another. Everything was a cover-up, every thing was an act. We fought behind masks and flashy words, but every night we would return home, wondering what was illusion and what was the truth.

_That's why there's a third act called, "The Prestige"; this is the part with the twists and turns, where lives hang in the balance, and you see something shocking you've never seen before. _

Then some thing happened we could not stop either. The world evolved, and we were chosen to lead it. Now instead of its protectors, we are its rulers. Civilization is on the verge of a new era, and we are to guide it forward, but all we can think about is a past lost to fate. We are unsure if we can be who they need us to be now. But they all look up to us; the Sailor Senshi dressed in skirts and boots, the only saviors left in this world. Do they know how much we doubt ourselves? Do they know how many times we've failed? Do they know how much we only want to be like them...normal? We've fooled the whole world. It was the greatest trick of all; turning five young girls into salvation. We want to believe in ourselves as much as they...believe in their hope in us. But how long will it take before the illusion is broken, and the secret behind our fake smiles is known?

What will become of us?

_Now you're looking for the secret... but you won't find it because you're not really looking. You don't really want to know the secret...You want to be fooled._

(Quotes are from the movie, The Prestige.)


	6. Down with Bunnies

Mamoru found the note first. It was a horrible shade of electric pink, something he wished he had gone color blind to long ago. Bunnies skipped up and down the seal, staring at him with those ridiculous manga eyes that no one could possibly have without serious birth defects. Inside was a note of another shade of pink (of course) with his second daughter's frilly handwriting, the i's dotted with hearts. With a heavy sigh, he began to read the girlish scribble.

_Dear Mom,_

I've run away. I've decided to take my dreams to America, because no one quite understands me here. I've been saving up money for this, and no one is going to stop me, but I hope someday you can forgive me for leaving, and support my decision. This does not mean I don't love you, and never want to speak with you again. I hope to hear from you soon, and I'll call when I can."

Love & Hearts, Kousagi 

Mamoru must have read the letter a thousand times, his heart beating faster with every passing letter. His youngest daughter was gone, a hundred miles away to another continent! How could she do something so brash? What was he going to do?

With a grin, Mamoru crumpled up the letter and envelope and shoved the flaming pink papers down into the garbage disposal. The water quickly dissolved the letters into smudges, and he laughed with glee as those bunnies seemed to shrivel with fear at their impending doom. With in a matter of seconds, all evidence of his daughter's disappearance was gone, and whistling, Mamoru pranced into the living room with a new spring in his step.

"Usako darling, I was thinking we should move."


	7. Ignorance Is

Umino prided himself on being in the know. He was a walking hub of information and gossip, equations and tabloids. There wasn't anything that he surprised him anymore, for he was always the first to know. There was one secret, however, he wished he never found. Imagine his surprise when he realized his bubbly old friend Usagi, who could barely walk ten feet without tripping, was the super heroine of Japan, Sailor Moon. He looked at her on the broken pavement, her uniform tattered and her body burned. One of her bones poked through her skin, while her eyes were filled with blood and drained of life. He could see her so clearly now, shocked that he had never noticed before how similar the two women truly were. Umino finally knew the greatest secret in all of Tokyo, but there was no one left to tell.


	8. In the Rain

"Why won't you give us a chance?" He whispers into the rain, seeing her in a scattered view as the drops distort his vision. At least he blames it on the rain. Her dark hair is glistening as she faces away from him, her arms wrapped defensively around each other.

She does not answer.

"I know what we did was wrong, but it was so long ago. People deserve a second chance. I'm sorry for the memories you have, I'm sorry for a lot of things. But you've turned against the ones you love before, too. Can't you understand?"

He swears he can see steam rising off of her, but he can feel the indignant fire burning more than anything. Her rage is better than her silence; it means she at least acknowledges him.

"I understand, and I forgive you. But it does not matter," she says.

"Why?"

"You were unfaithful." He doesn't understand, but she knows that. Everything is always a trick or trap placed with paranoid practice and careful consideration. "You lost faith in us, in our world and our rulers and destiny. No matter what and until my death, I've never given up hope...never given up faith in something pure and perfect."

She turns, emphasizing her painful words with her scorching eyes. "Even now, you're fighting it. Usagi has taught me one thing; this world deserves better, and I deserve better. I don't deserve someone with no faith in what I'm fighting for."

He watches her leave as the rain impacts with the concrete, cold and definite.


	9. Power of Touch

As a Youma, Tetis was used to being used. She knew they were pawns for their Queen; pawns to win a game long overdue. It did not pain her to know that she would not be missed if she were to parish in battle. She was made for that purpose, for vengeance and death, whether it cost her, her life or not. She was just another dark shadow for her queen to pull from the wall, to use at her biding. She knows what she is; she is a monster made for murder. She knows nothing else.

She does not feel the same way now, as he pushes himself inside her. Nothing has changed; she is being used like all the times before, but something stirs within her now. He is rough and passionate, and his warm skin awakens something inside her; an ache deeper than lust and pleasure. It is the desire to be wanted, to be needed-- to be real. She calls out his name as he bites into her tinted skin, but she knows he doesn't do this for her. She knows it in the way he never looks at her as he takes her, never whispers her name in the dark, and the way he turns and leaves her once he is satisfied. And she knows she will never be satisfied until he finally stays, calling out her name in the night.

The other Youma scorn her for her apparent favoritism, but some do not understand blind loyalty to such a harsh man. He treats her cruelly, hits and lashes out at her, but they do not understand. He has given her a taste of humanity with his embrace, a sense of connectedness to the world, instead of being just a mindless piece of the board. She sees only flashes of his dark and hidden feelings before he looks away, but it is enough to awaken hope in her breast. She wants to please him even above their Queen and will give him everything she is without a second thought, for he has touched some lost part of herself that might once have been human. She will do anything for him, and one day she will deserve his affection, his love, even if that means she must die for him.


	10. The Strong One

She always thought she was the stronger one. Her sister was too kind, too forgiving. Lethe often told hers he would have be dead if she wasn't around to watch out for her. Lethe knew they couldn't beat Galaxia alone, so she let that golden goddess of destruction annihilate their home and steal their hearts just so they would still be together, would still be alive. She held the harsher position; her sister would never last five minutes on the river of Oblivion. Strength was staying alive no matter what. She was proud of the fact they had survived this long.

That's why Lethe was so surprised when Mnemosyne stopped her from killing Sailor Moon. Her sister was never violent or demanding, but Mnemosyne had surprised her with the passion she held. Lethe wondered how she never saw how strong her sister had become, or perhaps always was. Mnemosyne stood there with Sailor Moon, the woman who would give up everything she was to make things right. Somewhere in the sands of Oblivion Lethe must have forgot what strength truly was. Strength was standing up for something important no matter the consequences. She was glad she finally remembered at the end, and the last thing she saw was her sister's proud face.


	11. Worth a Thousand

After the end of the world, Ryo could not remember it ever happening. In fact, he realized, with a sickly feeling in his gut, there was little he could hasten back to his memory. He remembered fire and destruction, chaos and a looming oblivion knocking on their shattered atmosphere. It seemed like he could only remember the last few moments of his old life, like the sum of his existence meant nothing compared to that fateful series of painful days. Or was it weeks, or hours? He couldn't recall anymore. The last thing he did remember was a wave of such brilliant white light, and then a cool touch, before everything went dark.

When he woke up, he could not remember who he was. The faces around him were just as strange as his own when he caught his reflection. He could only stand there as friends and family reunited, hoping someone would recognize his face, or come to explain what had happened. Someone did come; a woman in a red dress like a fashionable sailor, and another in green. They talked to the crowd and told them what had occurred, but Ryo could barely register any of it, as his mind tried to find something to hold on to. The two strange woman led everyone out into the open, where the world looked fresh and green and new. A make-shift settlement rested before them, but no other sign of civilization could be seen for miles. It all seemed like a dream, one that he desperately wanted to stay in, but to wake all the same.

Ryo followed everyone in line, stuffing his hands into his pockets nervously. He felt something rub against his skin, and pulled a picture from his pocket. There was a girl on it, with blue hair and blue eyes, and a smile that did strange things to him. She was very familiar, even though he could not remember her name, or anything about her. The picture was well taken care of, even though it was starting to show wear around the edges. She was obviously important, whoever she was. He got lost in her eyes, searching them in hopes of finding the lost parts of himself. One the back was writing perfect and precise: Ryo, This picture is better than the other. I hope it will be enough until we see each other again. Best of wishes, Ami. So he was Ryo. A name seemed so meaningless with nothing to connect it to. Ryo had followed like a mindless zombie as they received provisions and assignments, for there was nothing else he could do. He told them the name on the back of the picture, but nothing else. There was nothing else. He got a job as a builder, something he was sure he was probably not good at, if he could remember anything about himself.

Days, months, years passed, but Ryo's memory still remained illusive. It would have killed him, if not for the picture. He kept his mind occupied by thinking of his mystery woman; wondering who she was- was she a sister perhaps, a cousin, a friend, a lover? and searching for her amidst the crowds of people saved from the apocalypse. But mostly, she was the one tie he had to his former life, the one thing that made him believe that he had truly existed once. Without her, whoever she was, he would never been able to survive this new world. She was his first friend, his anchor. She had saved him, and somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew it wasn't the first time.


	12. Fading

Title: Fading  
Author: JP  
Theme: Sharp  
Genre: Horror  
Version: Any  
Rating: PG

Some things become ingrained into us and we learn to avoid them, or tread with caution.  
Ice is cold and will numb you.  
Fire is hot and will burn you.  
Fangs are sharp and will pierce you.  
His strong musky scent of pale champagne and earth fills my lungs and senses, overriding everything that makes sense. The impossible becomes possible under his copper stare. He should not exist, but then again, neither should I. He offers freedom from it all, freedom from the endless fighting and loneliness. How I want it all to end. He touches my hand, and the warning signs fail to reach my brain on contact, my connections to this world and my body fading with every step closer he takes. I tilt my head back in invitation, blonde hair falling off my pale, bare shoulders. He does not hesitate.  
Ice and fire scorch my veins at the same time, and there is pain, horrible pain. For a moment I see everything I've seen and things I hid from myself in implausible clarity, before the edges of my vision and sight fade with the pain. A tear escapes, freezing on dying skin. _No._  
Then there is nothing.


	13. we all fall down in the end

Title: we all fall down in the end  
Author: JP  
Theme: Ashes  
Genre: Romance, Drama, Angst? It's something.  
Version: animanga  
Rating: G

His eyes were like ice.

That was the first thing she noticed about him. He was light and she was dark, he was sharp as frigid crystals and she was as tenacious as molten fire. At first she found his differences intriguing, and as they say opposites are supposed to attract. She always enjoyed challenges, and she liked that he could keep up with her quick banter and wit. But there was nothing beneath the surface. He was a thin layer of ice with air under it, and even though she tried, she could not find a safe place to fall.

She had craved the cold. She had wondered what such a sensation would feel like, and it had been exhilirating with his cool hands caressing her burning skin. But she was born of fire. She breathed it, thrived in it. She needed the heat of another against her, one with a flame as strong as the one she carried inside. Someone that would ignite her and burn her down to ashes, only to make her rise again and again. His frozen touch would never be enough for her; he would never be enough.

If only she had realized that ice can burn you too.


	14. Rite of Spring

"Nothing is better than the first real day of spring," she says beside him as the sun shines down on their bare skin. There are a few puffy clouds lingering happily in the bright blue sky, and birds relish in the warm air currents, twisting and dancing in ecstasy. His toes still tingle from their recent affair, but she seems to be exhilarated by that and so much more. In a half daze he listens to her words.

"Spring doesn't always come it's told to. Mother Nature still lives by her own time, her own rules." There was a pride in her voice, as if she were that very entity herself. With everything he knew of her, perhaps it was true. He takes his eyes off the skies and turns towards her, watching as she caresses a blade of growing grass. It seems to grow stronger and greener between her fingers. "The first day just sneaks in when no one expects it, and you wake up not knowing boots and coats suddenly went out of season. But I felt it this morning. It was under my skin and in my heart. All day I've felt like the sun has been warming my whole being from the inside out. It's been like waking up from a long sleep. The first day of spring is the best feeling in the world. I'm absolutely alive today."

He had noticed a change in her when she appeared at his door step. Her eyes were impossibly green and shining, her skin already seemingly bronzed by the newborn sun. She had kissed him with a fierce passion, and he could hardly resist when she pulled him into the gardens to make love beneath their golden star. They had never done something so daring in their blossoming romance, but he had no objections when the fire in her eyes began to fill his veins.

Beads of sweat still rested on the back of her bare neck and chest like the early morning dew, and her flushed skin reminds him of sunburns and beach coves. Everyday he tells himself he is so lucky to be with such a flowering goddess. The spark he had felt touching her long ago had turned into an adoring affection over the past few years, and he could never get her out of his mind. Now that he had her, he had no plans of letting her go.

"Don't I make you feel alive?" he asks, making his voice as hurt as he can while still keeping a sparkle of mischief in his stare.

She giggles quietly, winking at him. "Why do you think I came here?"

He reaches up, gently pushing her matted hair away from her cheek and catches that familiar spark once more dancing into his fingers. "You're my first day of spring," he whispers, and kisses her beneath the budding trees and amongst the flowers new with life.


End file.
